


Up and Under

by Katherine



Category: Firefly, The Lights Outside the Windows - James White
Genre: Drabble, Elements of Ageplay, Fusion, Fusion - The Lights Outside the Windows by James White, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-08
Updated: 2019-12-08
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:13:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21725065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katherine/pseuds/Katherine
Summary: "You can play at being Captain on the next planet," Zoe said consolingly.
Relationships: Malcolm Reynolds & Zoë Washburne
Kudos: 4





	Up and Under

**Author's Note:**

> Fusion with "The Lights Outside the Windows" by James White, a short story published in _New Worlds Science Fiction_ , #56 February 1957. (There's a [PDF of the issue](https://drive.google.com/file/d/19USoyPLWfHjUVoMMTx0e33A8H82bf2a2/view) at [New Worlds Luminist Archives](http://www.luminist.org/archives/SF/NW.htm). The story's at page 100, page 102 of the PDF.)

"You can play at being Captain on the next planet," Zoe said consolingly. "But up here—"

"I know." Mal kicked his feet before reluctantly hopping down from the captain's chair. "In space I gotta listen to you," he said; a child's assurance about rules he didn't like but knew. When _Serenity_ was in space, the windows were covered, and he had to obey Zoe.

He and the others. They could play, and solve small engineering or navigation problems. But up in the black, under the hypnotic conditioning that protected men from space-madness, they were little boys, and Zoe mothered them.


End file.
